Safale-04 yeast (and yeast cake q's)

Anyone else used this with good results? The top thing that shows up in google says "Safale yeast rocks", so I figure I'm in the clear.

Recipie:
3.3lbs. northwestern dark (liquid)
1.0lbs. wheat extract (dry, and I don't remember the brand, it's from my LBHS).
I steeped about 2lbs. of 80L malt as the temperature went from 135 to 160 (15 minutes or so).
1oz. Cascade.

It's only 4.25 gallons. No, I didn't take a OG reading (I feel like an idiot ), even though I have a hydrometer, I'll take a reading in a week or so. The malt I steeped tasted like... well, like nothing... maybe a little bread-y, I might put it on cereal or something... I like the texture.

Think this might form a yeast cake I would keep using?

When do you know you have a yeast cake worth keeping?

What yeasts would I start using if I wanted to be able to keep using the cakes?

Safale-04 and 05 are both good dry yeasts, Nottinghams is another one people frequently mention as being good.

There is no real reason to reuse a yeast cake from a dry yeast since they are so inexpensive, you can, but it is not necessary. People reuse liquid yeast as it is significantly more expensive.

I reuse Nottingham all the time. If you have a beer that you brew on a regular basis it is just too easy to rack onto the cake.

ok, yeah, that makes sense.


I thought people would keep mixed strains as a cake, and re-use it all the time? I don't know where I get all these ideas from.

So I pitched last night, and it's going pretty darn quickly right now (7pm). You can *hear* the bubbles pop at the top of the carboy. It's a really interesting noise. Same thing with the apfelwein, which I didn't notice until today.

I pitch on the cake frequently and I use Nottingham for many brews. I wouldn't go to the trouble of washing and saving Nottingham or any other dried yeast, but if I'm in a brewing groove it makes sense to use the cake or at least a quart of it.